Prayer: the greatest work

We are prepared to serve the Lord only by sacrifice. We are fit for the work of God only when we have wept over it, prayed about it, and then we are enabled by Him to tackle the job that needs to be done. May God give to us hearts that bleed, eyes that are wide open to see, minds that are clear to interpret God’s purposes, wills that are obedient, and a determination that is utterly unflinching as we set about the tasks He would have us do. ~Alan Redpath

We can do nothing, we say sometimes, ‘we can only pray’. That, we feel, is a terribly precarious second-best. So long as we can fuss and work and rush about, so long as we can lend a hand, we have some hope; but if we have to fall back upon God… ah, then things must be critical indeed! ~Arthur John (A. J.) Gossip

He who has learned to pray has learned the greatest secret of a holy and happy life. ~William Law

The more praying there is in the world, the better the world will be, the mightier the forces against evil everywhere. Prayer, in one phase of its operation, is a disinfectant and a preventive. It purifies the air; it destroys the contagion of evil. Prayer is no fitful, short-lived thing. It is no voice crying unheard and unheeded in the silence. It is a voice which goes into God’s ear, and it lives as long as God’s ear is open to holy pleas, as long as God’s heart is alive to holy things. God shapes the world by prayer. Prayers are deathless. The lips that uttered them may be closed to death, the heart that felt them may have ceased to beat, but the prayers live before God, and God’s heart is set on them and prayers outlive the lives of those who uttered them; they outlive a generation, outlive an age, outlive a world. That man is the most immortal who has done the most and the best praying. They are God heroes, God’s saints, God’s servants, God’s vicegerents. A man can pray better because of the prayers of the past; a man can live holier because of the prayers of the past; the man of many and acceptable prayers has done the truest and greatest service to the incoming generation. The prayers of God’s saints strengthen the unborn generation against the desolating waves of sin and evil. ~Edward McKendree (E. M.) Bounds

Here is the great secret of success. Work with all your might; but trust not in the least in your work. Pray with all your might for the blessing of God; but work, at the same time, with all diligence, with all patience, with all perseverance. Pray then, and work. Work and pray. And still again pray, and then work. And so on all the days of your life. The result will surely be, abundant blessing. Whether you see much fruit or little fruit, such kind of service will be blessed… ~George Muller

To be much for God, we must be much with God. Jesus, that lone figure in the wilderness, knew strong crying, along with tears. Can one be moved with compassion and not know tears? Jeremiah was a sobbing saint. Jesus wept! So did Paul. So did John…Though there are some tearful intercessors behind the scenes, I grant you that to our modern Christianity, praying is foreign. ~Leonard Ravenhill

Reading is good, hearing is good, conversation and meditation are good; but then, they are only good at times and occasions, in a certain degree, and must be used and governed with such caution as we eat and drink and refresh ourselves, or they will bring forth in us the fruits of intemperance. But the spirit of prayer is for all times and occasions; it is a lamp that is to be always burning, a light to be ever shining: everything calls for it; everything is to be done in it and governed by it, because it is and means and wills nothing else but the totality of the soul — not doing this or that, but wholly…given up to God to be where and what and how He pleases. ~William Law

Here is the life of prayer, when in or with the Spirit, a man being made sensible of sin, and how to come to the Lord for mercy; he comes, I say, in the strength of the Spirit, and crieth Father. That one word spoken in faith, is better than a thousand prayers, as men call them, written and read, in a formal, cold, lukewarm way. ~John Bunyan

I am so busy now that if I did not spend three hours each day in prayer, I could not get through the day. ~Martin Luther

2 thoughts on “Prayer: the greatest work”

You know, I have strongly rejected a lot of the books out there on how one can be doing more for God’s Kingdom, because so much of it neglects the precious work of prayer. I consider it our greatest work for the Kingdom, next to taking action, but yet, it is my greatest weakness. Sure, I can pray in my heart throughout the day, but the sweetest time is when you are alone, with God, intimately praying. That’s my struggle.

I was greatly encouraged by a sermon Paul Washer gave on the fruits of the regeneration, I believe it was. He said that others seem to think all of the Christian life comes easy to him, but he wants them to know, it’s a daily struggle! He fights to read his Bible, he fights to pray, he fights to do the Lord’s will. His flesh is constantly battling over the sinful desires of the flesh, but he says the key is that a true Christian has the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome that through the fight to endure until the end.

That encouraged me greatly and ever since, when I struggle to pray, I remember that I’m not the only one fighting the sinful desires of the flesh, but have to crucify them daily! It’s a fight worth fighting for, though! 🙂 Christ is worth it!

Thank you, Anna, for encouraging us through these great men to be in sweet communion with our amazing God!

Tamar weeps

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